{"id":856,"date":"2008-11-05T09:24:55","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T09:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html"},"modified":"2008-11-05T09:24:55","modified_gmt":"2008-11-05T09:24:55","slug":"now-for-the-catholics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html","title":{"rendered":"Now for the Catholics"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, some links.
\nFr. Martin Fox of Ohio, who has a background in politics, posts some reflections here. <\/a><\/p>\n

It is true, and dismaying, that Obama got a bigger share of Catholic voters this time; but: when you break out weekly attendees vs. non-regular Mass-goers, it’s like this:
\nMass-goers: McCain 54\/Obama 45 Bush 56\/Kerry 43
\nNon-Mass goers: McCain 37\/ Obama 61 Bush 49\/Kerry 50
\nThat tells me something very significant: that regular Mass-goers, who were just as affected by all the other concerns, understood the prolife issue as much as they did four years ago. Obama did not improve his position with them significantly, in a year when he had every reason to do so, but for one: the prolife issue.
\nOf course, many will see the 45% that voted for Obama, and be unhappy about that; all I can do is point out Kerry got very nearly as much, and remember, folks were talking about what an accomplishment it was that Bush got 56% of these folks only four years ago. McCain got only a little bit less in a terrible economy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rocco Palmo crunches the number in more detail<\/a> – although his results do not break down results in terms of the Catholic vote, simply in terms of how candidates and ballot referenda did in the light of various episcopal stances and statements. It’s worth a look before you come over here and discuss it.
\nAs we all know, the bishops meet next week in Washington, and on the agenda is Faithful Citizenship <\/em>and this whole knotty issue.
\nIf you were composing the agenda, what would be on it?
\nI know we’ll have some disagreement here, and that is fine.
\nWhat I would hope would at least would be on the radar would matters that go deeper than the equation of what vote = what kind of sin.
\nAt issue is, first, American Catholics’ sense of the importance of the abortion issue and their attitude toward it. Support for a radically pro-abortion candidate is only the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0 It is well known that self-identified “Catholics” abort in numbers comparable to non-Catholics.\u00a0 Some of those who voted for Obama probably are opposed to abortion but feel that the legal ship has gone too far to come back anyway, but many are simply not bothered by abortion – even the churchgoers.
\nThere’s where the work needs to begin, as I have said many, many times before -to stop treating abortion simply as a “social issue,” but as a reality among Catholics themselves. To have every Catholic parish in the United States be a pro-life place, not just because there is educational material in the back but because it is a place where:
\n1) Children are welcomed and prayed for – as in the prayer for “a respect for life in our nation” will be supplemented by a prayer “in thanksgiving for the children of our parish and in hopes that God will bless the families of our parish with more children.”
\n2) It is stated bluntly and directly in every way possible: “If your teenager gets pregnant or fathers a child, please don’t be ashamed. We’re with you. Let us know what we can do to help, and let us pray for the young parents.”
\n3) It is stated bluntly and directly in every way possible: “We’re rejoicing in the birth of the special-needs children in our parish. Here’s the assistance we give parents of special-needs kids. There’s lots of it.”
\n4) In which foster parenting is promoted and regular workshops and training on fostering are presented.
\n5) In which adoption is promoted and the parish participates in funds that financially assist adoptive families.
\nSecondly, on a broader scale, I wish the bishops would take a critical look at rhetoric and expectations. It seems to me that over the past decades, a building-the-kingdom idealism has infected American Catholic political talk – something that perhaps can be traced to Gaudium et Spes (Ratzinger strongly critiqued the final draft of the document on this score). Related is the issue of faith-in-government – as in government programs and policies are the primary place to work out Catholic social teaching.
\nThis is something that I believe begs for discussion. The bishops need to take a critical look at what they have farmed out to government entities, both philosophically and practically, and then turn back inward for some self-examination. Perhaps some of that self-examination can involve re-imaging the list of lay advisors and voices to whom they listen. If we are called to examine matters as untethered from party ties as possible – then let’s do that – even at the USCCB.
\nFinally, this.
\nFor American Catholics, political activity and involvement in politics has a moral dimension.\u00a0 For this reason, the bishops need to speak out and provide guidance in that area.
\nBut in a period when recent stats indicated that barely 1\/4 of Catholics make it to Mass any given week…perhaps it’s a good idea to take a look at that matter, too.
\nFrom Marcel LeJeune:<\/a><\/p>\n

Yesterday we got a call from a person who chose life over abortion. She walked away from the abortion clinic and then called us to try and find help. We referred them to a local organization that supports pregnant mothers.
\nIt was a poignant reminder that neither utopia nor Armageddon will come by way of politics.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, some links. Fr. Martin Fox of Ohio, who has a background in politics, posts some reflections here. It is true, and dismaying, that Obama got a bigger share of Catholic voters this time; but: when you break out weekly attendees vs. non-regular Mass-goers, it’s like this: Mass-goers: McCain 54\/Obama 45 Bush 56\/Kerry 43 Non-Mass…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNow for the Catholics - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Now for the Catholics - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First, some links. Fr. Martin Fox of Ohio, who has a background in politics, posts some reflections here. It is true, and dismaying, that Obama got a bigger share of Catholic voters this time; but: when you break out weekly attendees vs. non-regular Mass-goers, it’s like this: Mass-goers: McCain 54\/Obama 45 Bush 56\/Kerry 43 Non-Mass…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-05T09:24:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"awelborn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Now for the Catholics - Via Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Now for the Catholics - Via Media","og_description":"First, some links. Fr. Martin Fox of Ohio, who has a background in politics, posts some reflections here. It is true, and dismaying, that Obama got a bigger share of Catholic voters this time; but: when you break out weekly attendees vs. non-regular Mass-goers, it’s like this: Mass-goers: McCain 54\/Obama 45 Bush 56\/Kerry 43 Non-Mass…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html","og_site_name":"Via Media","article_published_time":"2008-11-05T09:24:55+00:00","author":"awelborn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html","name":"Now for the Catholics - Via Media","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-11-05T09:24:55+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-05T09:24:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2008\/11\/now-for-the-catholics.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Now for the Catholics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/","name":"Via Media","description":"Amy Welborn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/aea2dcda1635c9c2d6030d9c7595725a","name":"awelborn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/9f2\/9f2100183464289fedc5b8a621c15110x96.jpg","caption":"awelborn"},"description":"Amy Welborn was born in 1960, the only child of a now-retired professor of political science, a teacher-librarian-artist mother,deceased since 2001, was a teacher, librarian and artist. The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}